Life and Style

Category Archives: Promoters

The endless Arizona sky will be filled with a galaxy of stars day and night during the Arizona Jazz Festival slated for October 25-27, 2013 at the Arizona Grand Resort & Spa in Phoenix, Arizona. More than 13,000 contemporary jazz and soul fans from across the nation are expected to flock to the lavish desert resort to enjoy performances by a stellar slate of Grammy-winners and chart-toppers along with a weekend of revelry. Tickets are on sale now for the three-day festival or as a single-day event and are available online at www.arizonajazzfestival.com and by calling 602.244.8444.

The Arizona Jazz Festival opens with an evening of seduction starting with the tantalizing pairing of saxophonist Eric Darius and R&B vocalist-producer Lyfe Jennings, who will set the mood for marquee-topper Maxwell, a Grammy-winning soul balladeer. Stick around for the official after-party at the resort.

Live music begins Saturday when nattily-attired guitarist Nick Colionne and new jazz swagger sax player J. White hit the stage followed by a trio set by saxophonists Warren Hill and Tom Braxton with blues-based guitar slinger Jeff Golub. Powerhouse tenors Gerald Albright, Richard Elliot and Euge Groove will blow a fierce sax storm in the desert before ten-time Grammy winner Chaka Khan belts out a song list filled with her massive crossover hits. The Queen of Neo Soul Erykah Badu will reign over majestic grooves and Baduizms preceding a set by “Uncle” Charlie Wilson, a 2013 BET lifetime achievement award winner, crooning cuts from his Grammy-nominated R&B songbook. After the concert, a number of the festival artists will head into the Arizona Grand Resort & Spa for an all-star jam.

It’s going to be a great-looking Sunday when saxophonists Jessy J and Michael Lington link with keyboardist Jonathan Fritzen to open the final day followed by a neo soul session from vocalist Eric Benet. Emerging saxmen Elan Trotman and Dominic Amato will accompany R&B chanteuse Melanie Fiona for an outing. Captivating multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson will inject a potent dose of funk-jazz into the mix during a high-octane performance before fellow blue-eyed soul man Robin Thicke blurs the lines during a set list certain to include the #1 summer smash “Blurred Lines.” Closing the festival is edgy multiplatinum R&B personality and reality television star Keyshia Cole.

“We pulled out all the stops for the Arizona Jazz Festival, which is perhaps the most spectacular lineup we have ever presented. While every festival that BTWconcerts.com produces and promotes is special, this is our hometown festival. We look forward to hosting guests from all over the U.S. that are passionate about jazz and R&B. It’s going to be an unforgettable weekend of live music and partying,” said Brad Laughlin of BTWconcerts.com, which also produces the Las Vegas Jazz Festival and the San Diego Jazz Festival.

The Arizona Jazz Festival offers reserved seating with ticket prices starting at $240.00 for the entire weekend or $65.00 for a single-day seat. For the enthusiast, tickets can be upgraded to include the Rock Star Experience that provides VIP tent access, a complimentary meal and drinks, artist meet & greets, Arizona Jazz Festival commemorative bag, t-shirt, poster and laminate, and entry to the Friday night after-party and Saturday night all-star jam.

The Brevard Music Group is a Brevard County, Florida based promotion, marketing and production organization under the direction of owner Roland Guilarte. The Brevard Music Group is comprised of three sub-group entities.

The Brevard Jazz Series, established in June of 1992, bringing hundreds of jazz/contemporary/smooth jazz concerts to Brevard County and other Florida cities.

BJS Productions: established in 2008, focusing on national blues, acoustic and classic rock. BJSP also offers contracting, marketing and production for private House Concerts, Corporate parties, fundraising events and much more.

Mr. Guilarte makes it his business to provide the residents of Brevard County with the opportunity to experience top national entertainment performed live by the most accomplished musicians of our time, right here at home.

Since its beginning, Brevard Jazz Series (BJS) and now the Brevard Music Group has been bringing top national talent to the Brevard County area. They have successfully promoted and produced hundreds of national artists including such well known names as George Benson, Norman Brown, Art Porter, The Rippingtons featuring Russ Freeman, Al Dimeola, Acoustic Alchemy, Larry Carlton, Peter White, Richard Elliot, Jeff Kashiwa, Craig Chaquico, Rick Braun, Marc Antoine, Everette Harp, Warren Hill, Maynard Ferguson, Spyro Gyra, Dave Koz, Johnny Winter, Peter Frampton and many,
many others.

As proprietor, Roland Guilarte continues to broaden the musical horizon for space coast residents. Working with top area venues such as the Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts, The Henegar Center, Hilton and Holiday Inn hotels, and several area clubs, Mr. Guilarte’s goal is to continue to improve the quality of entertainment in Brevard County. With his Brevard Jazz Series and now the Brevard Music Group, he continues to enhance Brevard County’s cultural and economic environments.

From contracting to marketing, ticketing, and production — The Brevard Music Group has a strong and proud foundation as a quality source of entertainment for Brevard County and beyond with you, the patron, as the
center of the focus!

Wallace Garner III is a native to Louisville, Kentucky. He has been involved with some sort of entertainment since the age of four when he auditioned on the drums for the University of Louisville band director. He has been active in music since that time, though he has taken on many endeavors since.

He considers himself a prodigy with jazz. He has been actively listening to jazz since the age of four. The other kids used to laugh at him. He knew there was something special about this music! The first piece he played on drums was “Poinciana,” by the great Ahmad Jamal. Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, Les McCann and Eddie Harris were among his early influences. He strives to be instrumental in bringing many great artists back to Louisville to perform. At one point, Louisviile was the mecca of music in this region. With your help, he can restore Louisville to the top.

Wallace Garner III Productions is a division of Bread Entertainment founded by Wallace in 2010. It produces the critically acclaimed “Afterset” and promotes Jazz concerts in the Louisville Metropolitan area. Catch the Afterset on Power 1350 WLOU and the new Praise 104.7 each Saturday night at 10pm.

Great Sounds Promotions mission is to promote music, education, and entertainment offerings that offer sound positive values to our community.

Over the years, the committees and boards that served Great Sounds Promotions, the local non-profit organization Ms. Davis founded, have served as bridges between local African-American and white community leaders, by driving people of varying ethnic and economic backgrounds, and different cultural and religious affiliations to work side by side to produce events. Over the years that these team experiences have been extremely beneficial to our community, have created long-lasting friendships, social and professional acquaintances across cultural and racial boundaries that otherwise would not have been breached. For the many people that have served in this manner over the years, GSP has been a common denominator to bridge these gaps.

Through GSP, Ms. Davis has brought many wonderful concerts to community churches, schools, auditoriums, and parks. She has brought affirming dramatic and musical programming in support of Black History Month. She has brought to the Quad City area church community over a decade of annual gospel concerts; featuring gospel recording artists that otherwise would not have been available to our community. Through benefit concerts, she has raised funds for local families in need, such as in one instance, a local family with two cancer-stricken babies.

The Smooth Jazz Concert s that has been so successful in our Quad City area was started in 2004, but quickly grew to a strong contingent of dedicated volunteers that bring a multitude of jazz concerts to a wide variety of local venues..

In addition to providing concerts for the public, Ms. Davis has also dedicated her events to creating performance opportunities for local talent, both adults and youth. In the lion’s share of her concert events over the year, Ms. Davis has striven to include local adult and youth talent in the shows, sharing the same stage with professional artists, both to showcase and to encourage local music talents. Getting this type of allowance from professional recording artists is rare; normal appearance contracts forbid these types of arrangements. But in the interests of better serving her community and sharing these types of performance opportunities with local talents, Ms. Davis had to insist repeatedly for these allowances in the course of her appearance negotiations, and even write these allowances in the appearance contracts in order to safeguard them for our public.

In addition to creating valuable showcase opportunities for local music talents, Ms. Davis has also focused on educational opportunities for disadvantaged area youth. In our many QC Gospel Music Festivals, area youth were invited to participate in choral workshops with visiting guest choir directors, including recording artists. Ms. Davis has sponsored and assembled local Adult and Youth Mass Choirs in her many events. Ms. Davis has brought affirming and educational programming to area schools, churches, and civic centers in support of Black History Month events over the years. Area events produced by Ms. Davis have raised needed funds for scholarships for disadvantaged youth to learn music skills and community service application for them. Ms. Davis has sponsored and provided workshops and performance opportunities for dance teams and mime teams as well as youth and mass choirs over the years.

In addition to providing prime performance opportunities for local adult and youth talents in the area of dance, mime, instrumental and vocal music performance, and choral performance, and in addition to sponsoring and producing educational seminars and programming in support of these creative outlets, Ms. Davis has also sponsored local awards for Adult and Youth talents. Over 30 Golden Note Awards have been giving out to area talents, to encourage them, and to provide needed recognition and thanks for those who have served the community with their talents.

All of these efforts, from concerts and seminars to fundraisers, workshops and scholarships, have realized fruition by and large due to the personality and character of Ms. Valerie Davis, whose vision has always been to serve the community through events that benefit the community. Today, Ms. Davis is more widely known in the community for her event work. This, again, is merited by her personal drive and persistence to further her goals, and her vision to serve the under-served segment of our community.

Brevard Jazz Series is a Brevard County, Florida based promotion and production organization under the direction of owner Roland Guilarte. Brevard Jazz Series was established in June of 1992. Mr. Guilarte makes it his business to provide the residents of Brevard County with the opportunity to experience contemporary jazz music performed live by the most accomplished musicians of our time, right here at home.

As proprietor, Roland Guilarte has broadened the musical horizon for space coast residents. Working with top area venues such as the Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts, Hilton and Holiday Inn hotels, and several area clubs, Mr. Guilarte’s goal is to continue to improve the quality of entertainment in Brevard County. With his Brevard Jazz Series, he continues to enhance Brevard County’s cultural and economic environments.

From contracting to marketing, ticketing, and production — Brevard Jazz Series has a strong and proud foundation as a quality source of entertainment for Brevard County and beyond with you, the patron, as the center of our focus!

Charmcityjazz.com is a division of R- Entertainment / Marketing, LLC; a full service event production and marketing company. Here at Charm City Jazz, the mission is to create a web based platform that serves the needs of music lovers, concert fans, and musicians.

It is their goal to bring Jazz Venues, Jazz Artists, Jazz Producers, Jazz Publications, Jazz Festivals, Jazz Cruises, Jazz Concerts and Jazz Fans all under one source. Roger Harris from Baltimore, Maryland is CEO of this company.

Mastermind/MR Entertainment is a Maryland- based Full Service Public Relations, Artist Development and Management Company specializing in assisting Contemporary Jazz Artists to gain the needed exposure to increase visibility and gain mainstream success. We focus on Personal Involvement, dependability, Internet savvy and a deep knowledge of how to use online marketing, promotion and distribution tools/services. We also have the ability to develop and execute strategic partnerships with brands, businesses, and have built relationships with booking agents and others who can help create live performance revenue.

The men behind Mastermind are Michael Reynolds and Derrick Kenny. Michael also hosts together with Jazz Queen Talking Smooth Jazz. For more information about this company visit their website.